


The Romantic Comedy of Hades and Persephone

by doorwaytoparadise



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, RomCom AU, everyone is happy and nothing hurts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-06 04:03:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12809202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doorwaytoparadise/pseuds/doorwaytoparadise
Summary: Persephone is the owner of a flower shop. Hades is the owner of an animal shelter. They meet. Romance and shenanigans ensue.





	1. Hades

The whistle of a train sounded in the distance as Hades opened the door to a little shop on a corner of a downtown side street. One step over the threshold and Hades had to stop and blink in surprise. Flowers were everywhere. Logically, he knew that, being a flower shop, there would be flowers everywhere, but flowers were _everywhere_. Bright flowers in clusters of arrangements, hanging plants at varying heights, and an impressive collection of succulents took up residence at the front of the store where Hades was standing. The displays were so thick, he could hardly see the path further in and Hades briefly wondered if this was a bad sign. But the shop was bright and sweet smelling, and despite the sheer amount of plants he could see, not a single one of them was dead or dying. That boded well.

As Hades weaved his way through the leaves and flowers (all fully bloomed, he noted), he wondered what the owner of a place like this was like. Everyone had said this was the best florist in town, and the best was what he was after. 

Hades thinks he turns a corner, though he can't quite tell past the wall of leaves, and as the path finally widened, he abruptly halted in his tracks. The room here is more open, with space to move around, a long glass counter and shelves teeming with various gardening-related items. There's a large window behind the counter, and a skylight in the ceiling above, and the sunlight is streaming in through both of them, illuminating a woman busy arranging a bouquet. The light shines against her dark hair, turning a few strands to gold, and highlighting the angles of her face. Her eyes are warm and her smile is soft and Hades feels the breath leave his lungs in a rush. 

She looks up and spots him, a flicker of surprise crossing her face, before she brightens and walks over. Hades mentally kicks his brain back on, trying to look like he hadn't been blindsided by her mere presence and says hello. She returns the greeting and her hands are covered in pollen, and his are clutching his hat, but they manage a handshake eventually, her eyes crinkling in amusement. There are callouses on her palm and dirt under her fingernails, a slight sheen of sweat on her brow and leaves in her messily pinned-up hair. She's absolutely beautiful.

“I'm Persephone.” she says, kind and welcoming.

Hades, heart pounding, falls hard.


	2. Eurydice

Eurydice is a hungry young girl.

Eurydice is a kind heart and able hands, a determined set of the shoulders, a core of steel. She is strength and loneliness wrapped up in gentle smiles, compassion and wide eyes. But Eurydice is also constant action. Constantly going, studying, working, moving, always keeping one step ahead of the hunger that has shadowed her all her life.

Eurydice is a hungry young girl, hungry for stability, for security (for love as well, but that can only come after). She throws herself eagerly into work, into order and productivity, into making things happen. A trail of jobs and volunteering and networking eventually lead her to the Elysian Fields Animal Shelter, and the open internship position, well-paid and waiting in the next town over. She applies, gets accepted, and hops on the train without a second thought.

When she gets there, she meets everyone, the animals and staff, friendly and welcoming, but also the owner and boss, Hades. Eurydice takes in his stern countenance, his gruff way of speaking, and knows. There is a hunger in Hades as well. He has worked hard and hungered all his life, and Eurydice can see it, in the furrow of his brow, the set of his mouth. They call him cold and strict and sharp, but she only sees a kindred spirit. Besides, people have said plenty of things about Eurydice before. 

He gives her work and she thrives, until she’s nearly half running the place, and the stress lines that had constantly seemed to crease Hades’ face have eased. In a place where her kind heart and able hands serve her well, Eurydice feels fulfillment for the first time. She has work and stability, and Hades is more soft hearted than anyone can see. He buys her flowers for her birthday, and Eurydice smiles into the bright bouquet. The hunger is almost gone.


	3. Persephone

One year, when the bitter, sharp cold of winter had bled into spring, Persephone had hopped onto the train with a few bags of her things and picked a stop at random. Not too far to upset her mother but far enough that the weight of her protectiveness was gone, she began. Living in a city was a harsh contrast to her rural upbringing, a childhood of days spent outside, running through open land that felt like it stretched on forever. She adapts, adjusts, and finds a cozy little shop on the corner of a less busy street to fill with pieces of her mother’s garden.

Persephone’s business thrives, and the stand of flowers outside is always blooming. The neat and pretty lettering on the window and door reads ‘Fruit of the Vine’, and sits perfectly displayed between hanging pots. Persephone enjoys her work, loves the plants and the people and the place, and she settles contentedly into her life.

Then, one day, a man dressed all in black walks in.

Sunlight pours in from the window and catches him at the edges, softening the lines of his face. His hands are working hands, clenched around a hat, and his mouth is drawn into a nervous frown, but despite his slight shuffling, his gaze is steady. He looks a little lost, and on closer inspection, his pant legs are covered in what seems to be pet hair. Persephone smiles, oddly charmed.

“Hades.” He tells her, when she introduces herself, and she feels the name reverberate in a way she can’t explain. His voice is deep and gruff, but he’s here to buy flowers for a young woman that works for him, and Persephone finds herself drawn to him.

Hades leaves the shop with a lovely bouquet of yellows and pinks, some of her nicest flowers, and unknown to him, at far less than her usual price. He had thanked her profusely and handled the flowers with such care it made Persephone want to laugh. She walks him to the front door and tells him to come again, sincerely hoping he does.


	4. Orpheus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who recently commented on this fic, because that was the entire reason I got up the motivation to write more of this.

Orpheus was a poor boy, but he had a gift to give.

Orpheus was a musician, an artist, a poet. He could draw the most beautiful music from a pawn shop guitar, and he spent his days moving from place to place. He relied on the kindness of strangers and the little amount of savings he had tucked away, wandering through big cities and small towns, through rolling countryside and stretches of mountains.

There is one day he leans on the corner of a building in a medium-sized city, the spring sun bright and the storefront nearby bursting with flowers. Orpheus opens his guitar case at his feet and plays.

The music brings him peace, something that’s always been a reliable presence, and a gift that he can share. It fills him with something almost too big for his chest, not quite an ache but more like wonder, and its joy and heartbreak and laughter with every note he sings. His bag is filled with notebooks and paper, messy sheet music with smudged writing, random doodles and scribbles filling in the corners. There are ticket stubs and brochures, souvenirs and knick-knacks and a whole collection that speaks of a life on the move. Orpheus has been on his own for a long time, and he likes his life just fine…most of the time. Orpheus’ hands are stained with ink, his fingers are calloused, and his jeans are ripped at the knees. He’s messy and dusty and has no place to call home, but he stands on street corners and gives a piece of his heart to every stranger that stops to hear him sing and it sort of chases off whatever loneliness might sit in his soul.

The sound of coins being thrown in his guitar case has Orpheus looking up, and he freezes. A woman around his age stands before him, shining in the late afternoon light. She is dressed to work, worn jeans and a plain shirt reading ‘Elysian Fields Animal Shelter’ and sturdy boots, but she’s the most beautiful person Orpheus has ever seen. There’s a yellow bandana in her hair and she smiles at him. Orpheus only just manages to smile back before she’s walking away, a bundle of flowers in her arms. Orpheus wonders if he can just stay on this corner of sidewalk forever just in case the woman ever comes back.

Two days later, after he’s returned to the same corner, the owner of the flower shop comes out to talk to him. Orpheus blinks.

“Aunt Persephone?”

“Orpheus.” Persephone greets, looking amused. She glances at his guitar case, his not-quite-clean clothing. “I can’t help but notice you’ve been here for three days.”

“…yes.”

She tilts her head.

“Do you need a job?”

Orpheus stares at her wide-eyed. He thinks about his life, the holes in his clothes, and the smattering of change in his guitar case. He thinks about twinges of loneliness and the fact that one of his favorite relatives is before him. He thinks about the woman in the yellow bandana. He beams.

“Yes please!”

Persephone laughs and waves him into the shop and Orpheus happily follows.


	5. Meetings

Eurydice pokes once more at the beautiful flowers Hades had given her. They had lasted a lot longer than she thought they would, and the blooms were still full and bright. The gesture had been sweet and completely unexpected, and she was touched at her boss’ thoughtfulness. Aside from a card signed by the rest of the shelter staff, it had been her only birthday gift. This, she mused, was why he was listed in her phone as ‘Work Dad’. 

She had gone to Hades earlier, curious about the longevity of the flowers, and he had told her where he had gone. Fruit of the Vine, downtown on the corner of Spring Street, a shop she could recall passing by before. He told her, a faint trace of embarrassment in his voice, of how the shop owner had been very helpful in the wake of his own ignorance on plant life. Something about the way Hades had been speaking and shifting had Eurydice paying even more attention, and, on a whim, she asked him what the owner was like. 

Hades paused. His expression shifted, just slightly, and…

Well.

The owner must have made quite the impact on Hades, considering he suddenly looked like he’d walked face-first into the door, something very nearly starstruck in his eyes. Eurydice buried her grin, and nodded along, and made a note to go swing by the flower shop as soon as she could. 

-

The trip comes within days, a chance to stop by before her afternoon shift, and Eurydice loves the place immediately. The door sits nestled in among thickly-grown but well-maintained climbing plants that stretch around the frame and cover the walls. Displays sit in front of the large window, popping with color, and the whole front looks welcoming and bright.

There’s a busker standing at the corner, guitar case open in front of him, and he’s just humming, playing a few sparse notes and letting the music flow. It’s hardly polished, more like a warm-up, but his voice is beautiful and the whole picture satisfies some deeply buried romantic side of her. The busker has his eyes closed, clearly into his music, and Eurydice smiles to herself and keeps moving.

Pushing through the door, Eurydice feels like she just stepped into Narnia, but a green, warm, lush version. She can’t imagine what Hades must have thought, stepping in here, but she smiles imagining it. A pleasant voice calls out, and she turns to see a woman older than her ducking under a hanging pot. The woman lifts her head, smiling, and yeah, Eurydice definitely understands why Hades got hit so hard. 

Beautiful, in a down-to-earth sort of way, a working woman like herself, the woman introduces herself as the owner, Persephone. 

“I’m Eurydice. My boss, Hades, gave me some flowers from here, and they were absolutely gorgeous.”

Persephone perks up at Hades’ name, and Eurydice immediately feels a faint flutter of excitement. Like, she’s witnessing the start of something significant. 

Just then, there’s a faint strum of a guitar, an almost haunting _‘la la la’_ that drifts in from outside, and they both glance out the window at the silhouette of the busker. Persephone grins and shakes her head. 

“Do you know him?” Eurydice asks, and Persephone looks both exasperated and fond all at once.

“My nephew. Though I’m wondering if he even knows this is my shop, considering he hasn’t come in or said a word to me.”

Eurydice laughs at that. 

-

She buys a pretty but simple bouquet, for the front desk at the shelter, and bids Persephone goodbye, the older woman happily telling her to come again. Gathering a few bills and coins, Eurydice steps back outside, tossing the change in the guitar case and smiling when the busker looks at her. She tucks the bouquet under her arm as she walks away, only just missing the dumbstruck expression that watches her go.


End file.
